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Meet Dr. Lauren Laurino: America ’s Holistic Sweetheart

Dr. Lauren Laurino, a holistic health advocate known as Dr Ren "America's Holistic Sweetheart." is shown in Edison on Jan. 13. She spotted turkey tail mushroom on the tree stump. "The medicine that you need, will show itself to you," she said(Photo: MARK R. SULLIVAN)Buy Photo

Story Highlights

Dr. Ren, as she calls herself, is hoping to take her local cable show nationwide in 2016 and helping more people eat right and feel better

or Laurino, it’s been a long and sometime challenging odyssey that has taken her from the streets and the four walls of a residential home to the set of “The Dr. Oz Show” and the white-gloved world of the White House

Editor's note: "The Sercret Life Of ..." is a weekly feature looking at the fascinating people across Central Jersey.

Welcome to Dr. Lauren Laurino’s world – the one she has branded her RENiverse.

Dr. Ren, as she refers to herself, is an author, activist, advocate and active social media presence who is living proof that holistic health can be fun, tRENdy and glamorous – one catchy tagline at a time.

“I have many RENisms in my RENipedia,” she said. “I say my name is translated into a Radically Enthusiastic Naturopath.”

So many people have had their RENergy bitten by the RENbug that the Hillsborough resident has earned the title America’s Holistic Sweetheart.

In fact, she’s on a mission in 2016 to bring her very own Union Cable TV 34 talk show, “Think Healthy with Dr. Ren,” into living rooms nationwide. She dreams of hosting a show that would help people eat right and feel great with each RENpisode.

“I like to bring information to people so they are aware of their options to consider regarding their health, said Laurino, 33.

For Laurino, it’s been a long and sometimes challenging odyssey that has taken her from life on the streets and the four walls of a residential home to the set of “The Dr. Oz Show” and the white-gloved world of the White House.

Laurino was 14 when she ran away from her Union home and lived for four months at various places in New York, New Jersey, and Philadelphia. She survived off of gas station food which she took a toll on her physical and neurological health.

“Lauren could have a temper and was stubborn in those days,” remembered her mother, Ann Marie. “She was always very adventurous. However, if things did not happen the way they did, she would not be who she is today.”

Laurino was eventually placed in a residential home for 20 months where she was diagnosed with ADHD and depression. She was placed on antidepressants and psychotropic medications.

While in the residential home, her weight fluctuated from 98 pounds to 280 to 135 within a year. This left her with what she describes as, “a skin body bag for 10 years.”

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Dr. Lauren Laurino, a holistic health advocate known as Dr Ren "America's Holistic Sweetheart." The Hillsborough has traveled around the country and has a local TV show she hopes to take nationally.(Photo: MARK R. SULLIVAN)

“I gained and lost weight so fast that my skin lost its elasticity,” Laurino said. “This caused me to have no self-esteem.”

Maurice Tiggett, Laurino’s case worker at the home, recalled the moment of her breakthrough.

“She was always a tough one to crack,” Tiggett said. “She came in and did not trust anyone and had her guard up. One day, she came to me and really started opening up, and I knew that she would pull through.”

Laurino graduated from the program with highest honors and moved onto Union County College where she graduated top of her class in criminal justice.

She spent 13 years renewing licenses and shuffling paperwork at the Department of Motor Vehicle, and this is onetime runaway discovered a talent for reaching out to people.

“I learned how to communicate and relate to people and to be able to be open enough to learn from people,” she said.

With a steady job, and now off her medications, her life seemed to turnaround, however, there was still the self-esteem issue she needed to explore.

“Because of my low self-confidence, I was in a roller coaster relationship for eight years. I worked four jobs and saved up money for our wedding but realized that this relationship was not serving me well,” she said.

Laurino called off the wedding, took the money and had reconstructive surgery at St. Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston to remove the extra skin which was like a constant reminder to her troubled past.

“Here I was with a new body and probably looking the best physically I have ever looked,” she said. “But yet, I didn’t feel awake, alive and present in my body.”

This is when she turned to herbal and energy medicine and truly back to her esoteric roots from her childhood being raised by her grandmother.

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Dr. Lauren Laurino, a holistic health advocate known as Dr Ren "America's Holistic Sweetheart." is shown in Edison on Jan. 13. She spotted turkey tail mushroom on the tree stump. "The medicine that you need, will show itself to you," she said(Photo: MARK R. SULLIVAN)

“I lived on a five-acre tree farm in Flemington for three years studying ethnobotany, permaculture and apprenticing with a naturopath in Frenchtown,” she said.

She promised herself she would leave her position at the DMV when she turned 30, and she did.

“In 2011, I started volunteering as the event production coordinator at the New York Open Center which led me to working with big names like Deepak Chopra, Joel Fuhrman and David Wolfe,” she said.

After receiving her N.D. (Naturopathic Doctorate) in 2013 from Trinity School of Natural Health in Indiana, her mother’s prayers came true.

“I always prayed for world peace and after she graduated, I said, ‘Now I have my world peace warrior.’” Ann Marie said. “I always knew she was my peace child.”

The “pinnacle moment” of Laurino’s career came when she was traveling nationwide on what she calls a “Holistic Health Crusade,” trying to find out what other holistic practitioners do.

“I received a phone call from a friend in New Jersey congratulating me on a write up from Union County College’s alumni newsletter which did a paragraph on my achievements,” she said.

This seemed to jumpstart her career. Shortly after, she received the California State Senate Award, she was nominated for the Dr. Oz’s Local Health Hero Award (and has appeared on the Dr. Oz show three times), nominated for the USA Hometown Hero Award and in March 2015, was nominated for President Obama’s Precision Medical Initiative as a Champion of Change which brought her to the White House this past July as a representative of holistic healthcare.

“Some feel that being a naturopathic doctor from New Jersey just doesn’t make sense. That is when I remind them that New Jersey is known as the Garden State,” she said.

Laurino’s hope of putting the green back into the Garden State led to her being the founder of the Central New Jersey Holistic Chamber of Commerce. And as host of “Think Healthy with Dr. Ren,” her shows have explored everything from colon hydrotherapy to holistic pet care to hot yoga.

She has 50,000 followers on social media, has written four books which are available on Amazon, and works as a consultant to help others get their message out there.

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Dr. Lauren Laurino, a holistic health advocate known as Dr Ren "America's Holistic Sweetheart." is shown in Edison on Jan. 13. She spotted turkey tail mushroom on the tree stump. "The medicine that you need, will show itself to you," she said(Photo: MARK R. SULLIVAN)

It’s a true turnaround for this once-troubled youth, but Tiggett, for one, is not surprised.

“I always knew she was destined for something great,” he said. “I am very proud of what she has accomplished and what more is yet to come.”